Horoscopes Never Lie
by purplesparkleypanda
Summary: Troy gets his horoscope daily, and strangely enough, they keep coming true. His friends think he's crazy, but what will he do when he gets a prediction that could put someone he loves in danger?
1. The Commercial

With much protest form his mother, Troy Bolton flopped onto his living room couch and switched on the television. Chad was going to come in ten minutes to walk to the bus stop, so he had time to browse the channels for a few minutes. He figured out that shows in the morning were usually just news, talk shows, and little kid shows. He saw Chad's large mop of curly brown hair walking up his driveway, and was about to switch off the TV when a commercial caught his eye.

"Do you want to know what's going to happen before it happens?" The announcer said, "Then text your astrological sign to 55555 to get your horoscope sent straight to your cell phone everyday!"

Normally, Troy would just ignore these commercials, but today it was particularly appealing. Why not see what his horoscope says? He pulled out his phone and text messaged "Libra" to the number, and was awaiting his reply when Chad came to the door.

"You're making me miss the bus so you can catch the end of Arthur?" he asked, talking to him through the screen door.

Troy looked up at the screen and saw the cartoon aardvark with his rabbit friend and laughed.

"Sorry, I'm coming," Troy answered, gathering his backpack and meeting Chad outside.

"If we miss the bus I'm telling everyone at school you watch Arthur," Chad declared, speed walking to the street corner.

"I wasn't watching it," Troy exclaimed, quickening his pace to catch up.

"You can't use the younger sibling excuse . . . you don't have one," Chad pointed out, "it's okay man, sometimes I watch Teletubbies when I'm bored."

Troy explained, "I was watching a commercial to get my horoscope sent to my cell phone."

Chad's face turned bright red, ". . . uh . . . you're not going to tell . . ."

"No, of course not," Troy laughed, it was funny because Chad didn't have younger siblings either.

"You don't believe those horoscopes things do you?" Chad asked to change the subject.

"I don't know," Troy replied, "it's just for fun I guess."

The bus pulled up just as they reached the corner. As Troy sat down, his phone beeped and he had a new message:

_Someone unexpected will surprise you today._

_What could that mean? _Troy wondered. It could be anyone, because everyone at school knows who he is.

_Oh well, so much for that idea,_ he thought.

The bus reached Gabriella's stop, so he slid over to make room for her. He decided not to mention the horoscope thing to her. She wouldn't believe in those things, and might think he was weird.

But then . . . maybe Gabriella would be the one to surprise him.

"Look at this," he said, showing her the text message.

"You believe horoscopes?" she asked, "You know people get paid to sit there and make this stuff up, right?"

"Of course I know that," he laughed nervously, "I just thought it was kind of funny. You know some people swear by these things."

"Our society is messed up then," she laughed, "if this comes true it's just a coincidence Troy."

"Yeah, I know," Troy tried to change the subject, "Did you see the article on us in the newspaper?"

"My mom was only freaking out over it, and calling everyone we know," she exclaimed, "I'm kind of glad the musical is over though."

"It was a lot of work," he agreed, "and a lot of pressure on me to be good at it."

"Definitely . . . but you lived, and were awesome."

"Not as good as you."

"True . . ." she joked, knowing she would never get him to agree otherwise.

Troy smiled. He was lucky to have a great girlfriend like Gabriella. She was so pretty and smart . . . everything he wasn't. And he didn't need a horoscope to tell him that.

At East High, everyone was still in frenzy about last week's sold out musical, so it took his mind off things. Sharpay was already obsessing over the spring musical, which Troy and Gabriella had both mutually decided not to try-out for. Why press their luck with the ice princess? Instead they planned on joining paint and props crew together.

By the end of the day, Troy's head was so full of compliments about the musical, that the horoscope was the last thing on his mind. He didn't think about it once for the rest of the day.

After finishing this homework that afternoon, he decided to walk to Chad's house and see if he wanted to play basketball. On way there a car suddenly pulled up beside him. The window rolled down, and someone yelled out, "Troy Bolton?"

He looked at the person in the window.

"Mike Gram? I haven't seen you in forever!" he exclaimed.

Mike's mom pulled over, and let him get out and talk to Troy. Mike was Troy's friend from when they were younger. They played on the same basketball team in grade school. He had moved away to be closer to his family in Canada.

"How have you been Troy? Still shooting hoops?"

"You bet man, I was team caption of the state champion basketball team this year," Troy explained, "What brings you to Albuquerque?"

"My mom came to visit a friend, so I thought I'd come too," he told Troy, "I saw the newspaper article on you."

"Really?"

"I would have never thought!" he laughed, "a musical?"

"Well . . . my friend Gabriella-"

"The girlfriend?"

"Yeah," Troy answered, returning Mike's high-five.

"It was cool seeing you again, but I've got to get going, it's a long drive back," Mike explained, "Tell Chad I said hi."

They exchanged e-mails and phone numbers, and soon Mike was gone. It was only when he went to enter Mike's number into his cell phone, he remembered the horoscope:

_Someone unexpected will surprise you today._

Troy's heart almost skipped a beat. Mike came unexpected . . . and he surprised Troy. His horoscope had come true! But then he remembered what Gabriella had said about coincidences. This couldn't have been a coincidence.

When he told Chad the story, he just laughed, "Horoscopes aren't real Troy. Someone probably gets paid to sit there and make them up."

And when he told Gabriella, he got a similar response, "It's just a coincidence Troy, I told you that this morning."

So . . . maybe his friends were right. But what if they weren't? What if these horoscopes really told you what was going to happen everyday?

He came to a simple conclusion. He would just test it out again tomorrow. If it didn't come true, he would look stupid, but would know for sure they weren't real. But surely if two in a row came true . . . they couldn't just be coincidences right?


	2. It's Getting Weird!

Troy awoke the next morning to a beep from his cell phone. He forced himself out of bed and walked the long and tiring journey to the other side of his room. The text message was of course, his daily horoscope, which read:

_Watch out! Today a secret of yours will be told._

Troy sighed with disappointment. There was no way this would come true, he was always careful with who he told things to. He only told Gabriella and Chad his really big secrets, and they weren't even that big. He set the phone down and prepared for school.

He soon met up with Gabriella on the bus. He admired her long beautiful hair, and her smile that was to die for, as she sat down next to him.

"You're not mad about what I said about the horoscope thing are you?" she asked, setting her backpack on the dirty bus floor.

"No, not at all," he said, "it was a weird coincidence though."

"Yeah, very weird," she agreed, kissing her boyfriend on the cheek.

"That's it?" he joked.

"Later!" she laughed, "Right now I have to look over my chemistry notes for the test."

"Oh right," he said.

Gabriella was so dedicated to everything she did. It was sometimes scary how hopelessly in love he was with her. She even looked beautiful reading her notes for school.

Troy stared out the window, not focusing his attention on anything particular. He was just thinking, and trying to clear his mind, but it wasn't really working.

Today, he just couldn't get that horoscope out of his mind. What did it mean? Would it come true? He hoped not, but he didn't really have any big secrets to tell in the first place. Maybe . . . he was just overreacting, and he needed to forget about the horoscope. But . . . maybe the specific words meant something. He had to read it again.

Troy pulled the phone out of his pocket slowly, so Gabriella wouldn't notice.

"Troy, what are you doing?" Gabriella asked, as he was attempting to view the message again.

"Uh . . . reading a text message from Chad," he lied.

"Chad doesn't have a cell phone," she pointed out, "his mom believes the rumors about how they give you brain cancer, remember?"

"Umm . . ."

"Troy, what does the horoscope say?" she laughed.

He showed her the screen.

"Don't take it so literally," she told him, "it's not like it's going to come true."

"You're right," he realized, Gabriella was the smartest person he knew, "I'm just being stupid."

"Very," Gabriella joked, "but it's strangely cute."

Maybe he would keep reading the horoscopes just to get Gabriella to call him cute again.

As soon as Troy entered the doors of East High, a path cleared for Sharpay, who made a beeline in his direction.

"Latest gossip is that Morgan Freeman broke up with her boyfriend Luke," Sharpay informed the overwhelmed boy.

Morgan Freeman was cheerleader caption, and pretty much the most popular girl on campus. She always had the jock boyfriend, and her latest was varsity football quarterback Luke McDonald.

"And what does this have to do with me?" Troy asked with a confused expression on his face.

Gabriella stood nearby with a book at hand, but Troy knew she was listening.

"The word is that she's got her eye on you," Sharpay said, "I just had to be the first to tell you . . ."

Gabriella snapped her book shut, "But Troy is going out with me!"

Troy had never seen his girlfriend so angry before.

"Well sweetheart, that isn't quite how Morgan Freeman works," Sharpay told her in a sweet voice, "Frankly, she doesn't care."

Gabriella was really steaming, so Troy put a comforting arm around her, "Don't worry about it Gabriella."

She eased up, and looked into Troy's eyes, and thought everything would be okay.

Until Morgan Freeman herself entered the picture.

"Hi Troy!" she waved suggestively.

"Hi Morgan," Troy managed to grumble.

Morgan gave Gabriella a menacing look, which to Troy's surprise, she returned.

"So Troy . . . great job on the musical, and the basketball game," she praised him, straightening her mini skirt, and flipping back her long blond hair, "I know it's hard being a caption . . . I'm cheerleading caption you know."

"Uh . . . yeah thanks," he said.

"See you around!" she spouted, and strutted away.

"What nerve," Gabriella grunted.

Troy took her hand, and they walked down the hallway with constant whispers and eyes from their peers following them everywhere.

During lunch period, Gabriella stormed up to Troy by his locker.

"Guess what I just heard?" declared a distraught Gabriella.

"What?" Troy asked, oblivious to what was going on.

"I hear you got _friendly_ with Morgan Freeman!"

Troy's face turned red, "Gabriella, it was a long time ago. There was a party at her house and-"

"I don't care!" she exclaimed, "why did you like _her_?"

"I didn't," he explained, "It was just something that happened once, long before I knew you."

Her faced changed to sadness, "How come you never mentioned it before?"

"It was just a kiss Gabriella," he told her, "nothing else."

She still hesitated, "You know I'm going to look really stupid now, right?"

"Why?"

"Because stupid Morgan is going to terrorize me because I'm going out with you," she explained, "and now she's telling everyone about the relationship you supposedly have."

"I'll talk to her," Troy decided, "I won't let her mess with you."

She smiled at Troy, coming to her rescue. She kissed him right there in the hallway, only partly to make a spectacle.

"Let them talk about that," she laughed.

Troy was surprised to see this new side of Gabriella. It was really different from her normal personality, but he still liked her . . . a lot.

If Morgan hadn't told everyone that secret, he might not have seen it. Wait . . . she told a secret of his? Only Morgan and Troy himself knew about that secret. His thoughts switched back to the horoscope:

_Watch out! Today a secret of yours will be told._

The horoscope had been proven true again! Either it was a huge coincidence, or these things could predict his life. If only he hadn't seen that commercial, he wouldn't be reading horoscopes and be so paranoid. But . . . surely three horoscopes couldn't be right all in a row. And if they were, why couldn't Troy use this to his advantage?


	3. Uh oh!

_Unfortunately, someone you know will get hurt today._

Troy stared back at the day's horoscope with . . . well, horror. Two horoscopes had already come true, so undoubtedly, this one would too. He shivered, remembering how he thought these things would be harmless. He squeezed his eyes shut tight, and hoped with all his might that this one would not come true.

Troy was already in homeroom when he read the horoscope, so he quickly put away his phone to avoid confrontation with Mrs. Darbus.

"Hey Troy," Chad said, taking the seat behind him.

"Hey," Troy answered, as they sat there to wait for the bell.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," Chad informed him, propping his feet up on the desk.

"About Teletubbies?" Troy asked, smirking.

"No! Not about that," Chad whispered strongly, "about the whole Morgan thing."

"Oh, what about it?" Troy asked, clearly uninterested.

"I don't know . . . it's not fair I guess."

"Why?"

"Because you already have Gabriella and now Morgan is after you," Chad explained.

"Jealous?"

"No . . . well yes," Chad admitted, "I thought Morgan and I clicked in chemistry class, so I kind of thought that I had a chance."

"Sorry man," Troy said, "If you want a girl, there is always still Taylor."

Chad made a face and glanced in Taylor's direction, "I was way wrong about that one."

"Well, you can have Morgan," Troy told him, looking across the room at the cheerleaders.

Morgan was obviously watching him, and waved.

_Great_, Troy thought. He hoped that Chad could maybe get her off his back.

"You should ask her out," Troy suggested.

"Dude, she's totally drooling over _you_," Chad noticed solemnly.

"Do me a favor . . . PLEASE ask her out so she'll leave me alone and Gabriella won't be mad anymore," Troy begged.

"Fine," Chad agreed.

"Mr. Dansforth . . . detention! This is not your living room!" Mrs. Darbus exclaimed, entering the room as the bell rang.

Chad slid his legs off the desk, and his face turned bright red.

During free period, Chad ran up to Troy looking distraught.

"Man, I've been having the worst day ever," Chad told him, tripping over his untied shoelace.

"I can see," Troy laughed.

"It's not funny," Chad protested, "With luck like this there is no way I can ask out Morgan."

"Oh yes you can! Who knows, maybe your luck will change," Troy told him.

"Maybe," Chad said doubtfully, "maybe I should read those horoscope things to see what unlucky things my life has in store for me."

"I don't even read those things anymore," Troy lied, "and look, Morgan is looking at you."

"No, she's staring at you," Chad said, rolling his eyes.

"It's now or never," Troy said, pushing his friend forward.

Chad grunted in protest, but walked toward Morgan anyway. Troy looked on to see her reaction. Chad was talking fast, and she actually smiled. But it was when Chad's face fell that Troy knew her answer. Chad sulked back over to Troy.

"It's a no," Chad said, "But she told me to say hi to you."

"Sorry," Troy answered, almost as disappointed as Chad.

"Sorry? You made me look like an idiot!" Chad yelled, "But no, Troy Bolton gets whatever he wants and he doesn't even know what's it's like to be hurt emotionally!"

Chad stalked off and left Troy standing there.

"What's wrong?" Gabriella asked as she met up with Troy.

_Unfortunately, someone you know will get hurt today._

"Gabriella, you're going to think I'm crazy, but another horoscope came true," Troy informed her.

"Calm down," she told him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"I can't! It's getting scary Gabriella!" he said, "And I'm afraid something bad is going to happen."

"Nothing is going to happen," Gabriella tried to convince him, "just don't read them anymore."

"That's harder than it sounds," he admitted.

"I thought Troy Bolton was fearless," she declared.

"Obviously Troy Bolton is a superstitious horoscope believer," he pouted.

Gabriella laughed and smiled, "Cheer up; you're so cute like that!"

Troy smiled too, "You're always cute."

The next day Troy was faced with a decision: once and for all, forget about that horoscopes, or read it.

As much as he tried to resist, he had to read that day's horoscope. Horoscopes were making old friends come back, making obsessive girls have crushes on him, and making his best friend mad at him. And yet, he needed to read it.

He turned on his cell phone, and opened the new text message. As he read it, the phone fell out of his hands, and he started to shake. The horoscope would haunt him effortlessly. It read:

_A death is just around the corner_.


	4. The Death Omen

"Troy, you don't seem to have a temperature," his mother said, squinting at the thermometer.

"But I'm sick!" Troy protested, "I'm so sick I can't go to school today!"

He laid in his bed, huddled under the sheets, his cell phone safely under his pillow. If he doesn't leave the house . . . then the horoscope can't come true, right?

He was pleased with his plan, but hoped pleading with his mother would work.

"Well . . . I suppose since you never miss school," she decided, "you can stay home if you feel that sick."

Inside, Troy was cheering, but he faked a cough for his mother's sake. When the door had clicked shut after her exit, Troy pulled out his phone. He had to call . . . Chad. But Chad wasn't talking to him. He sighed with irritation and dialed Gabriella's phone number. There was no answer, so he explained the situation on her voicemail . . . minus the horoscope details.

With all day to think, Troy realized that he was still letting these messages control his life. His head started to hurt from thinking too much, so he switched on the TV.

He reached a channel with a funny lady on it. She was wearing a scarf on her head and was sitting in front of a crystal ball. Apparently, it was a psychic hotline.

Maybe . . . this lady could confirm his horoscope. Troy quickly dialed the number on the bottom of the screen, and sat on hold for a few minutes.

"Hello?" someone answered the phone.

"Hi," he said, feeling awkward.

"So you would like to know your future," the lady stated in her strange accent.

"Why else would I be calling?" he asked.

"Well . . . your future looks . . . your future looks . . . your future looks . . . your future looks . . ."

"HOW DOES MY FUTURE LOOK?"

"Do not interrupt my psychic energy!" she snapped, "Your future looks . . ."

Troy yawned.

"Tired, you are very tired," the psychic said, "I see sleep in your future!"

Troy could have figured that out!

"Wait! The crystal ball is telling me . . ." she gasped.

"What? What do you see?"

"It looks like . . ." she started.

"Like?"

"Like the death omen!"

Troy hung up the phone as fast as he could. She couldn't possible have said . . . death? He hoped that it was all a misunderstanding . . . a coincidence perhaps.

But inside he knew it had to be a really big coincidence. His heart pounded in his ears. The woman's cackling voice repeated through his mind. Troy was soon so worn out, that he actually did fall asleep from feeling sick.

He was having a strange dream when his cell phone rang and woke him up.

"Hello?" Troy answered it in his drowsy tone.

"Hi Troy, it's Morgan and I heard you were sick . . . well I just figured because you weren't at school today," Morgan continued with her useless babbling as Troy tuned her out.

He wished he could sleep again.

"Morgan, how are you calling me from school, and how the heck did you get my phone number?"

"It's free period silly! And . . . uh doesn't everyone know your phone number?"

"No."

"Oh . . . well, don't worry about it," she told him, "Just feel better okay?"

"Um . . . alright," he said, "Bye?"

"Bye!"

Morgan finally hung up the phone.

Troy rolled his eyes and fell back into his pillow. He returned to his state of hiding from the world once again.

Troy awoke again around two-o-clock, this time not because of an outside source. Though he wasn't really sick, it was good to catch up on sleep. School would be out soon, and he wanted to talk to Gabriella.

Since he hadn't eaten all day, Troy bounded down the stairs to make himself a sandwich. He was placing the top piece of bread on his sandwich when he heard his cell phone ringing upstairs. Irritated, he ran up the stairs to his room and answered it. It was Chad.

"I know I was mad at you yesterday," Chad explained, "But I really had to call you so don't hang up."

"What for?" Troy asked, sensing fear in Chad's voice.

"I'll tell you the whole story later. Right now, I'm coming to get you," Chad told him.

"Chad . . . just tell me what's going on!" Troy demanded.

"Troy, there was an accident at school," Chad hesitated, "and . . . Gabriella was involved."

"WHAT? Is she okay?"

"We don't know yet," Chad explained, "My mom picked me up from school and we're almost to your house. We're going to the hospital."

"I'll . . . be ready in a minute," Troy managed to say, choking back emotions until he had hung up.

_A death is just around the corner._

No . . . it couldn't be . . .

_Gabriella._


	5. Tears Just Make You Weak

Troy changed out of his pajamas and grabbed his cell phone. He dashed downstairs and scribbled a note to his mother to explain the situation. He was waiting on his living room couch, glancing out the window every few seconds.

As Chad's mom's car pulled into his driveway, Troy felt apprehensive about what was to come. What was the accident? Would Gabriella be okay?

Chad flung open the car door, and let Troy in.

"What happened to her Chad?" he asked as soon as he had buckled his seatbelt.

Chad's mom, who was normally a slow driver, was going a little over the speed limit.

"During gym class . . . you know how we are doing track and field?" Chad asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, all I witnessed was a loud bang, and Gabriella was on the floor in front of one of the hurdles," he explained, "but I heard a rumor that Morgan was yelling at her while she was running, and that made her trip."

Troy's anger shot through the roof. It was all Morgan's fault.

"I also wanted to say I'm sorry Troy," Chad said, "I was wrong to like Morgan . . . now she's someone I wouldn't even want to be seen with because of what she did to Gabriella."

"Well, I'm sorry too," Troy told him, "I shouldn't have pressured you into asking Morgan out when I knew she liked me."

"We're cool," Chad declared.

Troy smiled. Of course they would be cool. Chad and Troy had been inseparable best friends for their whole lives.

"I hope Morgan knows it's going to take all of my strength to prevent myself from strangling her the next time I see her," Troy laughed, but then got serious, "So . . . what exactly happened to Gabriella?"

"Her leg looked like it was twisted, and she was unconscious," Chad described.

Troy took a deep breath. He hoped with everything that Gabriella would be okay.

The car pulled into the hospital parking lot, and Troy practically jumped out of the car when it had barely come to a stop. Chad dashed after his friend, and his mom walked at a normal pace behind them.

"Could you tell me where Gabriella Montez is?" Troy asked the lady at the front desk.

"Montez, Montez . . ." she said, searching her computer files, "Room 215 in the emergency ward. You can't go in unless you're family but you can sit in the waiting room."

Troy only listened to the room number, and didn't catch the last part. He was already running to catch the elevator to get to the second floor. Chad trailed behind, out of breath because it wasn't basketball season anymore, and he was slightly out of shape.

As Troy neared her room, he was repeating the same thing in his mind: _Please be okay, Please be okay, Please be okay. _

He recognized Gabriella's mom standing outside one of the doors.

"Troy!" she exclaimed, surprised to see him.

"Gabriella?" was all he could manage to ask as he caught his breath.

Chad stood next to him, panting.

"She's still unconscious Troy," she explained, "She has a broken leg as well."

Tears brimmed Mrs. Montez's eyes, and they made Troy want to cry. Chad's mom eventually came down the hallway. She comforted Gabriella's mom, and the two adults conversed in the waiting room.

Troy and Chad were sitting against a wall near Gabriella's room. A doctor walked passed, and went into Gabriella's room, so Troy tried to see inside.

His worst fears were coming true. He saw Gabriella, lying unconscious on a bed, and she had all kinds of tubes and machines around and in her. That's when Troy finally broke down.

He cried. His father told him that only the weak people cried. Well, he'd rather be weak then not to show his emotion for Gabriella. And his guilt level was as high as ever. This was his entire fault.

If he hadn't started reading horoscopes, he wouldn't have gotten that scary one, and it wouldn't have come true. If he had found a way to make Morgan not like him . . . then she wouldn't have tried to get revenge on Gabriella. It was his fault only.

"Troy . . . it's not your fault," Chad said, sensing his feelings through his tears.

"Look at this," he told him, showing Chad that morning's text message.

"TROY! HOROSCOPES ARE NOT TRUE!" Chad screamed at the top of his lungs.

A nurse came and told the boys that they had to go somewhere else because they can't block the hallway.

Troy just stared back at Chad with a stunned expression.

How could horoscopes be wrong? They had been proved true every day this week.

Troy spoke under his breath, "_Horoscopes never lie_."

They walked into the waiting room, and Troy's cell phone rang.

"Where are you?" the voice on the other end asked . . . his mom.

"I'm at the hospital," Troy said, remembering the note he left.

"Is Gabriella okay?" she asked, concerned.

Troy's mom loved Gabriella. Whenever she came over, she was very polite, and even helped his mom with dinner.

"She's unconscious and has a broken leg," he explained sadly.

"Would you like for me to come by?" she asked.

"It's okay mom," Troy decided.

"Alright," she said, "I hope your feeling better then you were this morning."

Troy was confused, and then remembered. He had faked sick this morning.

"Yes, I'm a lot better," he told her.

"Troy . . . I know you want to be there for Gabriella, but I don't want you staying at the hospital all night. I'll pick you up in a few hours."

"Okay mom," he said, "Bye."

"Wait Troy," she continued, "I know it's not the time for this . . . but your father received your cell phone bill in the mail today, and he's not happy. It's much higher than normal."

Troy started to panic. Of course . . . having that horoscope subscription would cost money!

"Uhhh . . . sorry mom," he apologized.

"Bye Troy," she said, "I'll call in a few hours."

"Bye."

Troy stopped, and went into deep thought. He didn't need to know what was going to happen in his future. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to be under this stress, and to cause so many people he loved so much pain.

He needed to cancel his subscription.


End file.
